Audio/Visual Device Touch-Based User Interface

ABSTRACT

A user interface for an audio/visual device incorporates one or both of a touch sensor having a touch surface on which is defined a racetrack surface having a ring shape and a display element on which is displayed a racetrack menu also having a ring shape, and where the user interface incorporates both, the ring shapes of the racetrack surface and the racetrack menu are structured to generally correspond such that the position of a marker on the racetrack menu is caused to correspond to the position at which a digit of a user&#39;s hand touches the racetrack surface.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of application U.S. Ser. No.12/613,943, filed Nov. 6, 2009, by Santiago Carvajal and John M.Sakalowsky, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to user interfaces incorporating a visualdisplay and/or a touch-sensitive control.

BACKGROUND

Part of enjoying the playing of an audio/visual program (e.g., a pieceof music, a recorded lecture, a recorded live performance, a movie, aslideshow, family pictures, an episode of a television program, etc.) isthe task of selecting the desired audio/visual program to be played.Unfortunately, the increasing variety of choices of sources ofaudio/visual programs and the increasing variety of mechanisms by whichaudio/visual programs are able to be stored and played has greatlycomplicated what was once the relatively simple act of watching orlistening to the playing of an audio/visual program to enjoy it.

For example, those wishing to “tune in” an audio/visual program beingbroadcast must now select a channel on which to view an audio/visualprogram from as many as 500 channels available through typical cableand/or satellite connections for television and/or radio. Further, ithas become commonplace to employ audio/visual devices that are able tobe programmed to autonomously tune in and record an audio/visual programfor playing at a later time. Still further, it is now becomingincreasingly commonplace to obtain audio/visual programs from websitesaccessible through the Internet, either by receiving those audio/visualprograms as streaming data while they are played, or downloading thoseaudio/visual programs as a storable digital file on an audio/visualdevice for playing at a later time. Yet further, some of these possiblesources of audio/visual programs require paid subscriptions for whichkey cards and/or decryption keys are required to gain access to at leastsome audio/visual programs.

Those seeking to avail themselves of even a modest subset of such a widearray of options for playing an audio/visual program have often foundthemselves having to obtain multiple audio/visual devices (e.g., tuners,descramblers, disc media players, video recorders, web access devices,digital file players, televisions, visual displays without tuners,etc.). Each such audio/visual device often has a unique user interface,and more often than not, is accompanied by a separate handheld wirelessremote control by which it is operated. Attempts have been made tograpple with the resulting plethora of remote controls that oftenaccompany a multitude of audio/visual devices by providing so-called“universal remotes” enabling multiple audio/visual devices to beoperated using a single remote control. However, a universal remotetends to go only so far in satisfying the desire of many users tosimplify the coordination required in the operation of multipleaudio/visual devices to perform the task of playing an audio/visualprogram.

Efforts have recently been made through cooperation among multiplepurveyors of audio/visual devices to further ease the coordinatedoperation of multiple audio/visual devices through the adoption ofstandardized command codes and various approaches to coupling multipleaudio/visual devices to enable the exchange of those standardizedcommand codes among multiple audio/visual devices. An example of thiseffort is the CEC standardized command set created as part of the HDMIinterface specification promulgated by HDMI Licensing, LLC of Sunnyvale,Calif. However, these efforts, even in conjunction with a universalremote, still only go so far in making the playing of an audio/visualprogram into a truly simple undertaking.

SUMMARY

A user interface for an audio/visual device incorporates one or both ofa touch sensor having a touch surface on which is defined a racetracksurface having a ring shape and a display element on which is displayeda racetrack menu also having a ring shape, and where the user interfaceincorporates both, the ring shapes of the racetrack surface and theracetrack menu are structured to generally correspond such that theposition of a marker on the racetrack menu is caused to correspond tothe position at which a digit of a users hand touches the racetracksurface.

In one aspect, an apparatus includes a display element capable ofvisually displaying a visual portion of an audio/visual program and aracetrack menu having a ring shape; a processing device; and a storageaccessible to the processing device and storing a sequence ofinstructions. When the sequence of instructions is executed by theprocessing device, the processing device is caused to: cause theracetrack menu to be visually displayed on the display element such thatthe racetrack menu surrounds a first display area in which the visualportion of the audio/visual program may be visually displayed; cause aplurality of menu items to be visually displayed in the racetrack menu;cause a first marker to be visually displayed in the racetrack menu;receive an indication that a first manually-operable control is beingoperated to move the first marker; in response to the indication of thefirst manually-operable control being operated to move the first marker,move the first marker about the racetrack menu and constrain movement ofthe first marker to remain within the racetrack menu; receive anindication of the first manually-operable control being operated toselect a menu item of the plurality of menu items that is in thevicinity of the first marker at a time subsequent to the firstmanually-operable control being operated to move the first marker aboutthe racetrack; and in response to the indication of the firstmanually-operable control being operated to select the menu item that isin the vicinity of the first marker, cause the menu item to be selected,wherein causing the menu item to be selected comprises taking an actionto cause the audio/visual program to be selected for playing.

Implementations may include, and are not limited to, one or more of thefollowing features. The touch-sensitive surface of the touch sensor mayhave a ring shape that defines the ring shape of the racetrack surfacesuch that the racetrack surface encompasses substantially all of thetouch-sensitive surface. The apparatus may further include a manuallyoperable control, and a casing wherein the touch sensor is disposed onthe casing relative to the manually operable control such that thetouch-sensitive surface surrounds the manually operable control.

Alternatively, the touch-sensitive surface of the touch sensor may be acontinuous surface having no hole interrupting the touch-sensitivesurface formed therethrough, where the ring shape of the racetracksurface is defined on the touch-sensitive surface to encompass a firstportion of the touch-sensitive surface and is defined to be positionedabout the periphery of the touch-sensitive surface so as to surround asecond portion of the touch-sensitive surface, and a navigation surfaceis defined on the touch-sensitive surface to encompass the secondportion. At least one ridge may be formed in the touch-sensitivesurface, wherein the at least one ridge also at least partly defines thering shape of the racetrack surface. The processing device may be causedby the sequence of instructions to define the first and second portionsof the touch-sensitive surface by: monitoring activity on thetouch-sensitive surface; treating the receipt of an indication of thedigit touching the touch-sensitive surface at a location within thefirst portion as the indication of the digit touching the racetracksurface at the position; treating the receipt of an indication of thedigit touching the touch-sensitive surface at a location within thesecond portion as an indication of the digit operating a navigationcontrol; and in response to the indication of the digit touching thenavigation control, causing a command to be transmitted to a source ofthe audio/visual program to operate a function of another menuassociated with the source.

The apparatus may further include a source interface operable totransmit commands to a source of the audio/visual program; whereinexecution of the sequence of instructions by the processing devicefurther causes the processing device to receive an indication of themanually-operable control being operated; and in response to theindication of the manually-operable control being operated, operate thesource interface to transmit a command to the source to cause the sourceto visually display a navigation menu of the source on the displayelement. The menu may have a ring shape that substantially correspondsto the ring shape of the racetrack surface. The ring shape of both theracetrack surface and the menu may be a rectangular ring shape such thatthe racetrack surface comprises four sides and the menu comprises foursides that correspond to the four sides of the racetrack surface. Thering shape of the menu may surround a display area in which a visualportion of the audio/visual program is displayed at a time when theaudio/visual program is played.

Execution of the sequence of instructions by the processing device mayfurther causes the processing device to cause the menu to be visuallydisplayed in response to the indication of the digit touching theracetrack surface at the position at a time when the menu is not beingvisually displayed. Execution of the sequence of instructions by theprocessing device may further cause the processing device to cause themenu to be visually displayed in response to the indication of the digittouching the racetrack surface followed by an indication of the digitmoving about the racetrack surface in a wiping motion starting at theposition at a time when the menu is not being visually displayed; andcause a command concerning playing the audio/visual program to betransmitted to a source of the audio/visual program in response to theindication of the digit touching the racetrack surface followed by anindication of the digit ceasing to touch the racetrack surface at a timewhen the menu is not being visually displayed. Execution of the sequenceof instructions by the processing device may further cause theprocessing device to cause the menu to be visually displayed in responseto the indication of the digit touching the racetrack surface followedby an indication of the digit remaining in contact with the racetracksurface for at least a predetermined period of time at a time when themenu is not being visually displayed; and cause a command concerningplaying the audio/visual program to be transmitted to a source of theaudio/visual program in response to the indication of the digit touchingthe racetrack surface followed by an indication of the digit ceasing totouch the racetrack surface at a time when the menu is not beingvisually displayed.

In one aspect, a method includes receiving an indication of a digit of ahand of a user touching a racetrack surface at a position on theracetrack surface, wherein the racetrack surface is defined on atouch-sensitive surface of a touch sensor to encompass at least aportion of the touch-sensitive surface and is operable by the digit; inresponse to the indication of the digit touching the racetrack surfaceat the position, causing a marker to be visually displayed at a locationthat corresponds to the position on the racetrack surface on a menu thatis visually displayed on a display element; receiving an indication ofthe position at which the digit touches the racetrack surface beingmoved about the racetrack surface; in response to the indication of theposition being moved about the racetrack surface, causing the marker tobe moved about the menu in a manner that corresponds to the manner inwhich the position is being moved about the racetrack; receiving anindication of the user increasing the pressure with which the user'sdigit touches the racetrack surface at the position at a time subsequentto receiving the indication of the position being moved about theracetrack; and in response to the indication of the user increasingpressure with which the user's digit touches the racetrack surface atthe position, causing a menu item displayed in the vicinity of themarker to be selected, wherein causing the menu item to be selectedcomprises taking an action to cause an audio/visual program to beselected for playing.

Implementations may include, and are not limited to, one or more of thefollowing features. The method may further include defining theracetrack surface on a first portion of the touch-sensitive surface anddefining a navigation surface on a second portion of the touch-sensitivesurface such that the ring shape of the racetrack surface surrounds thenavigation surface by: monitoring activity on the touch-sensitivesurface; treating the receipt of an indication of the digit touching thetouch-sensitive surface at a location within the first portion as thereceiving of the indication of the digit touching the racetrack surfaceat the position; treating the receipt of an indication of the digittouching the touch-sensitive surface at a location within the secondportion as receiving an indication of the digit operating a navigationcontrol; and in response to the indication of the digit touching thenavigation control, causing a command to be transmitted to a source ofthe audio/visual program to operate a function of another menuassociated with the source. Alternatively and/or additionally, themethod may further include displaying the menu on the display elementwith a ring shape that substantially corresponds to the ring shape ofthe racetrack surface; and perhaps further include surrounding a displayarea on the display element with the menu, wherein a visual portion ofthe audio/visual program is displayed in the display area at a time whenthe audio/visual program is played. The ring shape of both the racetracksurface and the menu may be a rectangular ring shape such that theracetrack surface comprises four sides and the menu comprises four sidesthat correspond to the four sides of the racetrack surface.

The method may further include displaying the menu on the displayelement in response to the indication of the digit touching theracetrack surface at the position at a time when the menu is not beingvisually displayed. The method may further include displaying the menuon the display element in response to the indication of the digittouching the racetrack surface followed by receiving an indication ofthe digit moving about the racetrack surface in a wiping motion startingat the position at a time when the menu is not being visually displayed;and transmitting a command concerning playing the audio/visual programto a source of the audio/visual program in response to the indication ofthe digit touching the racetrack surface followed by receiving anindication of the digit ceasing to touch the racetrack surface at a timewhen the menu is not being visually displayed. The method may furtherinclude displaying the menu on the display element in response to theindication of the digit touching the racetrack surface followed byreceiving an indication of the digit remaining in contact with theracetrack surface for at least a predetermined period of time at a timewhen the menu is not being visually displayed; and transmitting acommand concerning playing the audio/visual program to a source of theaudio/visual program in response to the indication of the digit touchingthe racetrack surface followed by receiving an indication of the digitceasing to touch the racetrack surface at a time when the menu is notbeing visually displayed.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thedescription and claims that follow.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a user interface.

FIG. 2 depicts correlations between movement of a digit on a racetracksensor of the user interface of FIG. 1 and movement of a marker on aracetrack menu of the user interface of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 a, 3 b, 3 c and 3 d, together, depict possible variants of theuser interface of FIG. 1 incorporating different forms and combinationsof markers.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a possible architecture of the userinterface of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the user interfaceof FIG. 1 combining more of the features of the user interface into asingle device.

FIG. 6 depicts a possibility of switching between displaying and notdisplaying the racetrack menu of the user interface of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 7 a and 7 b, together, depict additional possible details of theuser interface of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the user interface ofFIG. 5, additionally incorporating the possible details of FIGS. 7 a and7 b.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the controller of the architecture of FIG.4.

FIGS. 10 a and 10 b, together, depict possible variants of the touchsensor employed in the user interface of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 11 a and 11 b, together, depict possible variants of the userinterface of FIG. 1 incorporating more than one display area.

FIG. 12 depicts another embodiment of the user interface of FIG. 1 inwhich the racetrack menu and the display area surrounded by theracetrack menu do not occupy substantially all of a display element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

What is disclosed and what is claimed herein is intended to beapplicable to a wide variety of audio/visual devices, i.e., devices thatare structured to be employed by a user to play an audio/visual program.It should be noted that although various specific embodiments ofaudio/visual devices (e.g., televisions, set-top boxes and hand-heldremotes) are presented with some degree of detail, such presentations ofspecific embodiments are intended to facilitate understanding throughthe use of examples, and should not be taken as limiting either thescope of disclosure or the scope of claim coverage.

It is intended that what is disclosed and what is claimed herein isapplicable to audio/visual devices that employ a tuner and/or a networkinterface to receive an audio/visual program. It is intended that whatis disclosed and what is claimed herein is applicable to audio/visualdevices structured to cooperate with other devices to play anaudio/visual program and/or to cause an audio/visual program to beplayed. It is intended that what is disclosed and what is claimed hereinis applicable to audio/visual devices that are wirelessly connected toother devices, that are connected to other devices through electricallyand/or optically conductive cabling, or that are not connected to anyother device, at all. It is intended that what is disclosed and what isclaimed herein is applicable to audio/visual devices having physicalconfigurations structured to be either portable or not. Still otherconfigurations of audio/visual devices to which what is disclosed andwhat is claimed herein are applicable will be apparent to those skilledin the art.

FIG. 1 depicts a user interface 1000 enabling a user's hand-eyecoordination to be employed to more intuitively operate at least oneaudio/visual device to select and play an audio/visual program. The userinterface 1000 incorporates a displayed “racetrack” menu 150 and acorresponding “racetrack” surface 250. As depicted, the user interface1000 is implemented by an interoperable set of devices that include atleast an audio/visual device 100 and a handheld remote control 200, andas will be explained in greater detail, may further include anotheraudio/visual device 900. However, as will also be explained in greaterdetail, the user interface 1000 may be substantially fully implementedby a single audio/visual device, such as the audio/visual device 100.

The racetrack menu 150 is visually displayed on a display element 120disposed on a casing 110 of the audio/visual device 100, and asdepicted, the audio/visual device 100 is a flat panel display devicesuch as a television, employing a flat panel form of the display element120 such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) element or a plasma displayelement. Further, the audio/visual device 100 may further incorporateacoustic drivers 130 to acoustically output sound. However, as thoseskilled in the art will readily recognize, the racetrack menu 150 may bedisplayed by any of a variety of types, configurations and sizes ofaudio/visual device, whether portable or stationary, including and notlimited to, a projector or a handheld device.

The racetrack surface 250 is defined on a touch-sensitive surface 225 ofa touch sensor 220 disposed on a casing 210 of the handheld remotecontrol 200, and as depicted, the touch-sensitive surface 225 has arectangular ring shape that physically defines the shape and position ofthe racetrack surface 250 such that the racetrack surface 250encompasses substantially all of the touch-sensitive surface of thetouch sensor 220. However, as those skilled in the art will readilyrecognize, the touch sensor 220 may be incorporated into any of a widevariety of devices, whether portable or stationary, including and notlimited to, a wall-mounted control panel or a keyboard. Further, it isalso envisioned that the touch sensor 220 may have a variant of thetouch-sensitive surface 225 (see FIG. 2) that is of a shape other than aring shape with the racetrack surface 250 defined on that variant of thetouch-sensitive surface 225 in another way such that the racetracksurface 250 encompasses only a subset of that variant of thetouch-sensitive surface 225 of the touch sensor 220. Further, the touchsensor 220 may be based on any of a variety of technologies.

As depicted, both the racetrack menu 150 and the racetrack surface 250have a ring shape that is a generally rectangular ring shape withcorresponding sets of four sides. More specifically, the four sides 150a, 150 b, 150 c and 150 d of the racetrack menu 150 are arranged tocorrespond to the four sides 250 a, 250 b, 250 c and 250 d of theracetrack surface 250. This four-sided nature of both of the racetrackmenu 150 and the racetrack surface 250 are meant to accommodate therectilinear nature of the vast majority of display elements currentlyfound in audio/visual devices and the rectilinear nature of the visualportion of the vast majority of currently existing audio/visual programsthat have a visual portion. However, it is important to note thatalthough the racetrack menu 150 and the racetrack surface 250 aredepicted and discussed herein as having a rectangular ring shape, otherembodiments are possible in which the ring shape adopted by theracetrack surface 250 has a circular ring shape, an oval ring shape, ahexagonal ring shape or still other geometric variants of a ring shape.Further, where the racetrack menu 150 and/or the racetrack surface 250have a ring shape that is other than a rectangular ring shape, one orboth of the display element 120 and the touch sensor 220 may have ashape other than the rectangular shapes depicted herein.

As will be explained in greater detail, the four sides 150 a-d of theracetrack menu 150 surround or overlie the edges of a display area 950in which the visual portion of an audio/visual program selected via theuser interface 1000 may be played. It is this positioning of theracetrack menu 150 about the periphery of the display element 120 andthe display area 950 (whether surrounding or overlying the periphery ofthe display area 950) that supplies the impetus for both the racetrackmenu 150 and the racetrack surface 250 having a ring shape that isgenerally a rectangular ring shape, rather than a ring shape of someother geometry. Where a selected audio/visual program does not have avisual portion (e.g., the audio/visual program is an audio recordinghaving only an audio portion), the display area 950 may remain blank(e.g., display only a black or blue background color) or display statusinformation concerning the playing of the selected audio/visual programas the selected audio/visual program is played, perhaps with the audioportion being acoustically output by the acoustic drivers 130. Asdepicted, the four sides 150 a-d of the racetrack menu 150 are displayedby the display element 120 at the edges of the display element 120.However, it is also envisioned that the four sides 150 a-d of theracetrack menu 150 may be positioned about the edges of a “window” of agraphical user interface of the type commonly employed in the operationof typical computer systems, perhaps where the audio/visual device 100is a computer system on which audio/visual programs are selected andplayed through the user interface 1000.

As shown in FIG. 2, at various positions along one or more of the foursides 150 a-d of the racetrack menu 150 are menu items 155 that may beselected by a user of the user interface 1000. The menu items 155 mayinclude alphanumeric characters (such as those depicted as positionedalong the side 150 a) that may be selected to specify a channel or awebsite from which to select and/or receive an audio/visual program,symbols (such as those depicted as positioned along the side 150 b)representing commands to control the operation of an audio/visual devicecapable of playing an audio/visual program (e.g., “play” and “stop”commands for a video cassette recorder, a disc media player, or solidstate digital file player, etc.), and indicators of inputs (such asthose depicted as positioned along the side 150 c) to an audio/visualdevice that may be selected and through which an audio/visual programmay be selected and/or received. Although the various menu items 155positioned along the racetrack menu 150 could conceivably serve any of awide variety of purposes, it is envisioned that much of thefunctionality of the menu items 155 will be related to enabling a userto select an audio/visual program for playing, and/or to actually playan audio/visual program.

To operate the user interface 1000, a user places the tip of a digit ofone of their hands (i.e., the tip of a thumb or finger) on a portion ofthe racetrack surface 250 defined on the touch-sensitive surface 225 ofthe touch sensor 220, and a marker 160 is displayed on a portion of theracetrack menu 150 that has a position on the racetrack menu 150 thatcorresponds to the position 260 on the racetrack surface 250 at whichthe tip of their digit is in contact with the touch-sensitive surface225 of the touch sensor 250. FIG. 2 also depicts how the marker 160moves about and is constrained to moving about the racetrack menu 150 tomaintain a correspondence between its location on the racetrack menu 150and the position 260 of the digit on the racetrack surface 250 as theuser moves that digit about the racetrack surface 250. In someembodiments, the marker 160 may move about the racetrack menu 150 in amanner in which the marker 160 “snaps” from being centered about onemenu item 155 to an adjacent menu item 155 as the marker 160 is movedabout a portion of the racetrack menu 150 having adjacent ones of themenu items 155. Further, such “snapping” of the marker 160 betweenadjacent ones of the menu items 155 may be accompanied by the concurrentacoustic output of some form of sound (e.g., a “click” or “beep” soundthat accompanies each “snap” of the marker 160) to provide furtherfeedback to a user of the marker 160 moving from one such menu item 155to another.

When the marker 160 is positioned over a menu item 155 that the userwishes to select, the user selects that menu item 155 by pressingwhichever one of their digits that is already in contact with theracetrack surface 250 with greater pressure than was used in simplyplacing that digit in contact with the racetrack surface 250. In someembodiments, the touch sensor 220, itself, is capable of distinguishingdifferent degrees of pressure with which the digit is put into contactwith the touch-sensitive surface 225 of the touch sensor 220 on whichthe racetrack surface 250 is defined in order to distinguish an instancein which the user is pressing harder with that digit to select one ofthe menu items 155. In other embodiments, the touch sensor 220 is ableto function in a manner not unlike a mechanically depressible button inwhich the additional pressure applied through that digit by the usercauses the touch sensor 220 to be pressed inward towards the casing 210as part of selecting a menu item. This may be accomplished by overlyingone or more buttons disposed within the casing 210 with the touch sensor220 so that such buttons are depressed by the touch sensor 220 as thetouch sensor 220 is itself depressed towards the casing 210. Where thetouch sensor 220 is able to be pressed inward towards the casing 210,such inward movement may be accompanied by a “click” sound that may beheard by the user and/or a tactile “snap” sensation that can be sensedby the user through their digit to give the user some degree of positivefeedback that they've successfully selected one of the menu items 155.Regardless of whether the touch sensor 220 is able to be pressed inwardtowards the casing 210, or not, a “click” or other sound accompanyingthe users use of increased pressure on the racetrack surface 250 toselect one of the menu items 155 may be acoustically output through anacoustic driver (not shown) incorporated into the remote control 200and/or through the acoustic drivers 130 of the audio/visual device 100.

FIGS. 3 a, 3 b and 3 c depict other variations of forms of marker andcombinations of markers. As will be made clear, different forms ofmarker and combinations of multiple markers may be used to enhance therapidity with which the eyes of a user of the user interface 1000 isdrawn to a specific location on the racetrack menu 150, and to aid thehand-eye coordination of that user.

Although the marker 160 was depicted in FIG. 2 as taking the form of abox-shaped graphical element sized to surround one of the menu items 155at a time when positioned in the vicinity of one or more of the menuitems 155, FIG. 3 a depicts another variant of the marker 160 having theform of a triangular pointer. Still other possible graphicalrepresentations of the marker 160 will occur to those skilled in theart, such as forms of the marker 160 having other geometric shapes(e.g., a dot, a circle, an arrow, etc.) or other ways of beingpositioned in the vicinity of a given one of the menu items 155 (e.g.,overlying, surrounding, pointing to, touching, etc., one of the menuitems 155). Still further, instead of the marker being a graphicalelement that is separate and distinct from any of the menu items 155,the marker 160 may instead be a modified form of a given one of the menuitems 155, such as a change in a color of a menu item, an enlargement ofa menu item in comparison to others, or some form of recurring animationor movement imparted to a menu item. In other words, the position of themarker 160 (and by extension, the position 260 of the tip of a digit onthe racetrack surface 250) may be indicated by one of the menu items 155changing color, changing font, becoming larger, becoming brighter, orbeing visually altered in comparison to the others of the menu items 155in any of a number of ways to draw a user's eyes to it.

FIG. 3 a also depicts an optional additional marker 165 that follows thelocation of the marker 160 and provides a visual “highlight” of whichone of the four sides 150 a-d the marker 160 is currently positionedwithin as a visual aid to enable a users eyes to be more quicklydirected to that one of the four sides 150 a-d when looking at theracetrack menu 150. Though not specifically depicted, in otherembodiments, the additional marker 165 may be implemented as ahighlighting, change in color, change in background color, change infont, enlargement or other visual alteration made to all of the menuitems 155 that are positioned in that one of the four sides 150 a-d.

FIG. 3 b depicts the manner in which the marker 160 may be dynamicallyresized as it is moved about the racetrack menu 150, especially inembodiments where the marker 160 is of a form that in some way overlapsor surrounds one of the menu items 155 at a time in order to take intoaccount the different sizes of different ones of the menu items 155.More specifically, and as depicted in FIG. 3 b, the numeral “3” hasvisibly smaller dimensions (i.e., occupies less space in the racetrackmenu 150) than does the numeral “III” that is also present on the sameracetrack menu 150. Thus, when the depicted form of the marker 160(i.e., the “box” form of the marker 160 that has been discussed atlength) is positioned on one or the other of these two particular onesof the menu items 155, the marker 160 is resized to be larger or smalleras needed to take into account the different sizes of these twoparticular ones of the menu items 155.

FIG. 3 c also depicts an optional additional marker 162 that follows thelocation of the marker 160 and provides a more precise visual indicationthan does the marker 160 of the position 260 of the tip of a user'sfinger along a corresponding portion of the racetrack surface 250. Asdepicted, the marker 162 takes the form of what might be called a “dash”positioned along one of the edges of the box form of the marker 160.However, it should be noted that the marker 162 may take any of avariety of forms (e.g., a dot, a circle, an arrow, etc.). The provisionof the marker 162 may be deemed desirable in embodiments where themarker 160 moves in the manner previously described in which the marker160 “snaps” between adjacent ones of the menu items 155 such that themarker 160 does not, itself, provide as precise an indication of theposition 260 of the tip of the user's digit. More specifically, FIG. 3 cdepicts a succession of views of a portion of the racetrack menu 150 onwhich menu items 155 taking the form of the numerals “1” through “5” arepositioned. As can be seen in this depicted succession, the marker 162provides a more precise indication of the movement of the position 260of the tip of the users digit along a portion of the racetrack surface250 from left to right than does the marker 160 which remains on the oneof the menu items 155 having the form of the numeral “2” on this portionof the racetrack menu 150. Such a higher precision indication of theposition 260 of the tip of the users digit may aid the user in improvingtheir hand-eye coordination in operating the user interface 1000. Such ahigher precision indication of the position 260 may also provide a userwith some degree of reassurance that the user interface 1000 isresponding to their actions (or more specifically, whatever processingdevice is incorporated into the user interface 1000 is responding totheir actions) by seeing that the exact position 260 of the tip of theirdigit is being successfully detected.

FIG. 3 d depicts yet another alternate variation of the marker 160 in avariant of the user interface 1000 in which the racetrack menu 150 isdivided into multiple segments, with each such segment serving as abackground to one of the menu items 155. As depicted, the marker 160 isimplemented as both a change in the color and/or brightness of one ofthose segments of the racetrack menu 150 and an enlarging of thegraphical element representing the one of the menu items 155(specifically, the numeral “3”) positioned within that segment. As sodepicted, the marker 160 might be said to have a form that is a variantof the earlier-depicted box, but a box that is made visible by having acolor and/or brightness that differs from the rest of the racetrack menu150, rather than a box that is made visible by a border or outline. FIG.3 d also depicts this alternate variation of the marker 160 being usedin combination with the earlier-described additional marker 162 thatprovides a more precise indication of the position 260 of the tip of ausers digit along a portion of the racetrack surface 250.

FIG. 3 d also depicts how this variant of the marker 160 is resized toaccommodate the different sizes of the different ones of the menu items155, although this resizing now corresponds to the differing dimensionsof different ones of the segments into which the racetrack menu 150 isdivided. In some variants, each of the segments may be individuallysized to fit the visual size and shape of its corresponding one of themenu items 155, as depicted in FIG. 3 d. Thus, since the numeral “3” ofone of the menu items 155 is smaller in at least one dimension than thenumeral “III” of another one of the menu items 155 (even with thenumeral “3” being enlarged in font size), the segment of the racetrackmenu 150 in which the numeral “3” is positioned is smaller than thesegment in which the numeral “III” is positioned. However, in othervariants, the segments filling at least one of the four sides 150 a-dmay all be sized based on the quantity of the menu items 155 positionedin that one of the four sides so as to divide that one of the four sides150 a-d into equal-sized segments. Where the ones of the menu items 155along that one of the four sides 150 a-d may change in response to aselection of an input or for other reasons, the size of the segments inthat one of the four sides 150 a-d may change in response to a change inquantity of the menu items 155 positioned in that one of the four sides150 a-d. Thus, for example, a reduction in the quantity of menu items155 in that one of the four sides 150 a-d results in each of itssegments becoming larger in at least one dimension, and an increase inthe quantity of menu items 155 results in that one of the four sides 150a-d results in each of its segments becoming smaller.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a possible architecture of the userinterface 1000 by which a controller 500 receives input through a user'suse of at least the racetrack surface 250 defined on at least a portionof a touch-sensitive surface 225 of the touch sensor 220 to which thecontroller 500 is coupled, and provides at least the racetrack menu 150as a visual output to the user through at least the display element 120to which the controller 500 is also coupled. In various possibleembodiments, the controller 500 may be incorporated directly into theaudio/visual device 100, or into another audio/visual device 900 coupledto the audio/visual device 100 and shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1. Asalso depicted in FIG. 1, the remote control 200 communicates wirelesslythrough the emission of radio frequency, infrared or other wirelessemissions to whichever one of the audio/visual devices 100 and 900incorporates the controller 500. However, as those skilled in the artwill readily recognize, the remote control 200 may communicate throughan electrically and/or optically conductive cable (not shown) in otherpossible embodiments. Alternatively and/or additionally, the remotecontrol 200 may communicate through a combination of wireless andcable-based (optical or electrical) connections forming a networkbetween the remote control 200 and the controller 500.

Still other embodiments may incorporate the touch sensor 220 directly ona user accessible portion of one or both of the audio/visual devices 100and 900, either in addition to or as an alternative to providing thetouch sensor 220 on the remote control 200. Indeed, FIG. 5 depicts analternate variant of the audio/visual device 100 having more of aportable configuration incorporating both the display element 120displaying the racetrack menu 150 and the touch sensor 220 on atouch-sensitive surface 225 on which the racetrack surface 250 isdefined. This alternative variant of the audio/visual device 100 mayalso incorporate the controller 500, such that much (if notsubstantially all) of the user interface 1000 is implemented solely bythe audio/visual device 100.

Returning to FIG. 4, regardless of which audio/visual deviceincorporates the controller 500, the controller 500 incorporatesmultiple interfaces in the form of one or more connectors and/or one ormore wireless transceivers by which the controller 500 is able to becoupled to one or more sources 901, 902, 903 and/or 904. Any suchconnectors may be disposed on the casing of whatever audio/visual devicethe controller 500 is incorporated into (e.g., the casing 110 of theaudio/visual device 100 or a casing of the audio/visual device 900). Inbeing so coupled, the controller 500 is able to transmit commands to oneor more of the sources 901-904 to access and select audio/visualprograms, and is able to receive audio/visual programs therefrom. Eachof the sources 901-904 may be any of a variety of types of audio/visualdevice, including and not limited to, RF tuners (e.g., cable televisionor satellite dish tuners), disc media recorders and/or players, tapemedia recorders and/or players, solid-state or disk-based digital fileplayers (e.g., a MP3 file player), Internet access devices to accessstreaming data of audio/visual programs, or docking cradles for portableaudio/visual devices (e.g., a digital camera). Further, in someembodiments, one or more of the sources 901-904 may be incorporated intothe same audio/visual device into which the controller 500 isincorporated (e.g., a built-in disc media player or built-in radiofrequency tuner).

In embodiments where one of the sources 901-904 is not incorporated intothe same audio/visual device as the controller 500, and where that oneof the sources 901-904 is coupled to the controller 500 via an interfaceof the controller 500 employing a connector, any of a variety of typesof electrical and/or optical signaling conveyed via electrically and/oroptically conductive cabling may be employed. Preferably, a single cableis employed both in relaying commands from the controller 500 to thatone of the sources 901-904 and in relaying audio/visual programs to thecontroller 500. However, combinations of cabling in which differentcables separately perform these functions are also possible. Some of thepossible forms of cabling able to relay both commands and audio/visualprograms may conform to one or more industry standards, including andnot limited to, Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appareils Radiorecepteurset Televiseurs (SCART) promulgated in the U.S. by the ElectronicIndustries Alliance (EIA) of Arlington, Va.; Ethernet (IEEE-802.3) orIEEE-1394 promulgated by the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) of Washington, D.C.; Universal Serial Bus (USB)promulgated by the USB Implementers Forum, Inc. of Portland, Oreg.;Digital Visual Interface (DVI) promulgated by the Digital DisplayWorking Group (DDWG) of Vancouver, Wash.; High-Definition MultimediaInterface (HDMI) promulgated by HDMI Licensing, LLC of Sunnyvale,Calif.; or DisplayPort promulgated by the Video Electronics StandardsAssociation (VESA) of Milpitas, Calif. Other possible forms of cablingable to relay only one or the other of commands and audio/visualprograms may conform to one or more industry standards, including andnot limited to, RS-422 or RS-232-C promulgated by the EIA; VideoGraphics Array (VGA) maintained by VESA; RC-5720C (more commonly called“Toslink”) maintained by the Japan Electronics and InformationTechnology Industries Association (JEITA) of Tokyo, Japan; the widelyknown and used Separate Video (S-Video); or S-Link maintained by SonyCorporation of Tokyo, Japan.

In other embodiments where one of the sources 901-904 is notincorporated into the same audio/visual device as the controller 500,and where that one of the sources 901-904 is coupled to the controller500 via a wireless transceiver, any of a variety of types of infrared,radio frequency or other wireless signaling may be employed. Preferably,a single wireless point-to-point coupling is employed both in relayingcommands from the controller 500 to that one of the sources 901-904 andin relaying audio/visual programs to the controller 500. However,combinations of separate wireless couplings in which these functions areseparately performed are also possible. Some of the possible forms ofwireless signaling able to relay both commands and audio/visual programsmay conform to one or more industry standards, including and not limitedto, IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11g promulgated by the IEEE; Bluetoothpromulgated by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group of Bellevue, Wash.;or ZigBee promulgated by the ZigBee Alliance of San Ramon, Calif.

In still other embodiments where one of the sources 901-904 is notincorporated into the same audio/visual device as the controller 500, acombination of cabling-based and wireless couplings may be used. Anexample of such a combination may be the use of a cabling-based couplingto enable the controller 500 to receive an audio/visual program fromthat one of the sources 901-904, while an infrared transmitter coupledto the controller 500 may be positioned at or near the one of thesources 901-904 to wirelessly transmit commands via infrared to that oneof the sources 901-904. Still further, although FIG. 4 depicts each ofthe sources 901-904 as being directly coupled to the controller 500 in apoint-to-point manner, those skilled in the art will readily recognizethat one or more of the sources 901-904 may be coupled to the controller500 indirectly through one or more of the others of the sources 901-904,or through a network formed among the sources 901-904 (and possiblyincorporating routers, bridges and other relaying devices that will befamiliar to those skilled in the art) with multiple cabling-based and/orwireless couplings.

Some of the above-listed industry standards include specifications ofcommands that may be transmitted between audio/visual devices to controlaccess to and/or control the playing of audio/visual programs, includingmost notably, SCART, IEEE-1394, USB, HDMI, and Bluetooth. Where such anindustry standard for coupling the controller 500 to one or more of thesources 901-904 is employed, the controller 500 may limit the commandstransmitted to one or more of the sources 901-904 to the commandsspecified by that industry standard and map one or more of thosecommands to corresponding ones of the menu items 155 such that a user isable to cause the controller 500 to send those commands to one or moreof the sources 901-904 by selecting those corresponding ones of the menuitems 155. However, where the benefit of such a standardized command setis unavailable, the controller 500 may employ any of a wide variety ofapproaches to identify one or more of the sources 901-904 to an extentnecessary to “learn” what commands are appropriate to transmit and themanner in which they must be transmitted.

A user of the user interface 1000 may select one of the sources 901-904as part of selecting an audio/visual program for being played byemploying the racetrack surface 250 and the marker 160 to select one ormore of the menu items 155 shown on the racetrack menu 150, such as the“I” through “IV” menu items 155 depicted as displayed by the controller500 on the side 150 c of the racetrack menu 150. Those menu items 155depicted on the side 150 c correspond to the sources 901 through 904,which are depicted as bearing the labels “source I” through “source IV”in FIG. 4. The controller 500 receives input from the touch sensor 220indicating the contact of the user's digit with a portion of theracetrack surface 250, indicating movement of the position 260 ofcontact of the digit about the racetrack surface 250, and indicating theapplication of greater pressure by the user through that digit againstthe touch sensor 220 at the position 260 (wherever the position 260 isat that moment) when selecting one of the menu items 155. The selectionof one of the sources 901-904 by the user causes the controller 500 toswitch to receiving audio/visual programs from that one of the sources901-904, and to be ready to display any visual portion in the displayarea 950 and acoustically output any audio portion through the acousticdrivers 130 (or whatever other acoustic drivers may be present andemployed for playing audio/visual programs).

The selection of one of the sources 901-904 may further cause thecontroller 500 to alter the quantity and types of menu items 155displayed on one or more of the sides 150 a-d of the racetrack menu 150such that the displayed menu items 155 more closely correspond to thefunctions supported by whichever one of the sources 901-904 that hasbeen selected. This changing display of at least a subset of the menuitems 155 enables the user to operate at least some functions of aselected one of the sources 901-904 by selecting one or more of the menuitems 155 to thereby cause the controller 500 to transmit one or morecommands corresponding to those menu items to the selected one of thesources 901-904. By way of example, where the one of the sources 901-904with the ability to record an audio/visual program was previouslyselected, the racetrack menu 150 may include one or more menu items 155that could be selected to cause the controller 500 to transmit a commandto that previously selected one of the sources 901-904 to cause it tostart recording an audio/visual program. However, if the user thenselects another one of the sources 901-904 that does not have theability to record an audio/visual program, then the controller 500 wouldalter the menu items 155 displayed on the racetrack menu 150 to removeone or more menu items associated with recording an audio/visualprogram. In this way, at least a subset of the menu items 155 displayedon the racetrack menu 150 are “modal” in nature, insofar as at leastthat subset changes with the selection of different ones of the sources901-904.

The coupling and/or uncoupling of one or more of the sources 901-904 toand/or from whatever audio/visual device into which the controller 500is incorporated may also cause the controller 500 to alter the quantityand/or types of menu items 155 that are displayed in another example ofat least a subset of the menu items 155 being modal in nature. By way ofexample, the uncoupling of one of the sources 901-904 where that one ofthe sources 901-904 had been coupled through cabling may cause thecontroller 500 to remove the one of the menu items 155 by which that nowuncoupled one of the sources 901-904 could be selected. Alternativelyand/or additionally, where that uncoupled one of the sources 901-904 wasalready selected at the time of such uncoupling such that a subset ofthe menu items 155 is displayed that is meant to correspond to thefunctions able to be performed by that now uncoupled one of the sources901-904, the controller 500 may respond to such an uncoupling byautonomously selecting one of the other of the sources 901-904 andaltering the subset of the menu items 155 to correspond to the functionsable to be performed by that newly selected one of the sources 901-904.In contrast, and by way of another example, the uncoupling of one of thesources 901-904 where that one of the sources 901-904 had beenwirelessly coupled may or may not cause the controller 500 to remove theone of the menu items 155 by which that now uncoupled one of the sources901-904 could be selected. If there is a mechanism provided in thechosen form of wireless communications used in the coupling thatindicates that the uncoupling is due simply to that one of the sources901-904 entering into a low-power or “sleep” mode, then it may be thatno change is made by the controller 500 to the menu items 155 that aredisplayed, especially if the form of wireless communications used allowsthe controller 500 to signal that one of the sources 901-904 to “wakeup” in response to the user selecting one of the menu items 155 that isassociated with it. However, if no such mechanism to indicate thecircumstances of an uncoupling are available, then the uncoupling maywell result in an alteration or removal of at least some of the menuitems 155 displayed on the racetrack menu 150. Where a previouslyuncoupled one of the sources 901-904 is subsequently coupled, onceagain, regardless of the type of coupling, the controller 500 may becaused to automatically select that now coupled one of the sources901-904. This may be done based on an assumption that the user hascoupled that source to whatever audio/visual device into which thecontroller 500 is incorporated with the intention of immediately playingan audio/visual program from it.

While at least some of the menu items 155 may be modal in nature suchthat they are apt to change depending on the selection and/or conditionof one or more of the sources 901-904, others of the menu items 155 maynot be modal in nature such that they are always displayed whenever theracetrack menu 150 is displayed. More specifically, where one or more ofthe sources 901-904 are incorporated into the same audio/visual deviceas the controller 500, the ones of the menu items 155 associated withthose sources may remain displayed in the racetrack menu 150, regardlessof the occurrences of many possible events that may cause other menuitems 155 having a modal nature to be displayed, to not be displayed, orto be displayed in some altered form. By way of example, where a radiofrequency tuner is incorporated into the same audio/visual device intowhich the controller 500 is incorporated, then a subset of the menuitems 155 associated with selecting a radio frequency channel (e.g., thedecimal point and numerals “0” through “9” depicted as displayed withinthe side 150 a) may be a subset of the menu items 155 that is alwaysdisplayed in the racetrack menu 150. It may be that the selection of anymenu item of such a subset of the menu items 155 may cause thecontroller 500 to automatically switch the selection of a source ofaudio/visual programs to the source associated with those menu items155. Thus, in the example where an audio/visual device incorporates aradio frequency tuner and menu items 155 associated with selecting aradio frequency channel are always displayed, the selection of any oneof those menu items would cause the controller 500 to automaticallyswitch to that radio frequency tuner as the source from which to receivean audio/visual program if that tuner were not already selected as thesource. By way of another example, one or more of the menu items 155associated with selecting a source of audio/visual programs (e.g., theroman numerals “I” through “IV” depicted as displayed within the side150 c) may be menu items that are always displayed in the racetrack menu150.

Regardless of what source is selected or how the source is selected, ifan audio/visual program received by the controller 500 from that sourcehas a visual portion, then the controller 500 causes that visual portionto be displayed in the display area 950. As has so far been depicted anddescribed, the racetrack menu 150 has a rectilinear configuration withthe four sides 150 a-d that are configured to surround or overlie edgesof the display area 950. However, in some embodiments, it may be thatthe racetrack menu 150 is not always displayed such that what is shownon the display element 120 of the audio/visual device 100 could beeither the display area 950 surrounded by the racetrack menu 150, or thedisplay area 950 expanded to fill the area otherwise occupied by theracetrack menu 150.

As depicted in FIG. 6, what is shown on the display element 120 couldtoggle between these two possibilities, and this toggling could occur inresponse to observed activity and/or a lack of observed activity in theoperation of at least the racetrack surface 250. More specifically, onoccasions where no indication of contact by a users digit on theracetrack surface 250 has been received by the controller 500 for atleast a predetermined period of time, the controller 500 may provide thedisplay element 120 with an image that includes substantially nothingelse but the display area 950 such that a visual portion of an audiovisual program is substantially the only thing shown on the displayelement 120. However, once the controller 500 has received an indicationof activity such as the tip of a digit making contact with racetracksurface 250, the controller 500 then provides the display element 120with an image that includes a combination of the display area 950 andthe racetrack menu 150.

In some embodiments, at a time when both the display area 950 and theracetrack menu 150 are displayed, the controller 500 reduces the size ofthe display area 950 to make room around the edges of the display area950 for the display of the racetrack menu 150 on the display element120, and in so doing, may rescale the visual portion (if there is one)of whatever audio/visual program may be playing at that time. In otherembodiments, the display area 950 is not resized, and instead, theracetrack menu 150 is displayed in a manner in which the racetrack menu150 overlies edge portions of the display area 950 such that edgeportions of any visual portion of an audio/visual program are no longervisible. However, in those embodiments in which the racetrack menuoverlies edge portions of the display area 950, the racetrack menu 150may be displayed in a manner in which at least some portions of theracetrack menu have a somewhat “transparent” quality in which theoverlain edge portions of any visual portion of an audio/visual programcan still be seen by the user “looking through” the racetrack menu 150.As will be familiar to those skilled in the art, this “transparent”quality may be achieved through any of a number of possible approachesto combining the pixels of the image of the racetrack menu 150 withpixels of the overlain portion of any visual portion of an audio/visualprogram (e.g., by averaging pixel color values, alternatelyinterspersing pixels, or bit-wise binary combining of pixels with apixel mask).

Along with combining the visual display of the display area 950 and theracetrack menu 150, the controller 500 may also combine audio associatedwith operation of the user interface 1000 with an audio portion (ifpresent) of an audio/visual program being played. More specifically,“click” sounds associated with the user pressing the racetrack surface250 defined on a surface of the touch sensor 220 with greater pressureand/or with the “snapping” of the marker 160 between adjacent ones ofthe menu items 155 may be combined with whatever audio portion isacoustically output as part of the playing of an audio/visual program.

In some embodiments, at a time when the racetrack menu 150 is notdisplayed (e.g., at a time when only the display area 950 is displayed),the controller 500 may do more than simply cause the racetrack menu 150to be displayed in response to a user touching a portion of theracetrack sensor 250. More specifically, in addition to causing theracetrack menu 150 to be displayed, the controller 500 may takeparticular actions in response to particular ones of the sides 250 a-dof the racetrack surface 250 being touched by a user at a time when theracetrack menu 150 is not being displayed. By way of example, at a timewhen the racetrack menu 150 is not being displayed, the detection of atouch to the side 250 d may cause a command to be sent to one of thesources 901-904 to provide an on-screen guide concerning audio/visualprograms able to be provided by that source, where such a guide would bedisplayed in the display area 950, with edges of the display area 950being either surrounded or overlain by the racetrack menu 150 as hasbeen previously described.

In a variation of such embodiments, it may be that causing the racetrackmenu 150 to be displayed requires both a touch and some minimum degreeof movement of the tip of a user's digit on the racetrack surface 250(i.e., a kind of “touch-and-drag” or “wiping” motion across a portion ofthe racetrack surface 250), while other particular actions are taken inresponse to where there is only a touch of a tip of a user's digit onparticular ones of the sides 250 a-d of the racetrack sensor 250. By wayof example, while the racetrack menu 150 is not displayed, touching theside 250 a may cause a command to be sent to a source to turn thatsource on or off, and touching the side 250 b may cause an audio portionof an audio/visual program to be muted, while both touching and moving adigit across a portion of the racetrack surface 250 in a “wiping” motionis required to enable the display and use of the racetrack menu 150.

FIGS. 7 a and 7 b, taken together, depict additional features that maybe incorporated into the user interface 1000. Where a selected one ofthe sources 901-904 displays its own on-screen menu 170 (e.g., a guideconcerning audio/visual programs available from that source), either inplace of a visual portion of an audio/visual program or overlying avisual portion of an audio/visual program, some embodiments of the userinterface 1000 may be augmented to support at least partly integratingthe manner in which a user would navigate such an on-screen menu 170into the user interface 1000. In such embodiments, the touch sensor 220,with its ring shape (whether that ring shape is a rectangular ringshape, or a ring shape of a different geometry), may be configured tosurround a set of controls for use in navigating the on-screen menu 170just as the racetrack menu 150 surrounds the on-screen menu 170, itself.

In particular, FIG. 7 b depicts the manner in which the touch sensor 220disposed on the casing 210 of the remote control 200 of FIG. 1 maysurround navigation buttons 270 a, 270 b, 270 c and 270 d, as well as aselection button 280, that are also disposed on the casing 210. Inalternate variants, other forms of one or more manually-operablecontrols may be surrounded by the touch sensor 220, in addition to or inplace of the navigation buttons 270 a-d and the selection button 280,including and not limited to, a joystick, or a four-way rocker switchthat may either surround a selection button (such as the selectionbutton 280) or be useable as a selection button by being pressed in themiddle. As a result of the ring shape of the touch sensor 220 beingemployed to surround the navigation buttons 270 a-d and the selectionbuttons 280, a nested arrangement of concentrically located manuallyoperable controls is created. FIG. 7 a depicts a form of possibleon-screen menu that will be familiar to those skilled in the art,including various menu items 175 that may be selected via the selectionbutton 280, and a marker 180 that may be moved by a user among the menuitems 175 via the navigation buttons 270 a-d. The concentrically nestedarrangement of manually operable controls surrounded by the racetrackmenu 250 defined on the touch-sensitive surface 225 of the touch sensor220 that is disposed on the casing 210 of the remote control 200corresponds to the similarly nested arrangement of the on-screen menu170 surrounded by the racetrack menu 150 that is displayed on thedisplay element 120.

FIG. 7 b also depicts additional controls 222, 225, 226 and 228 that maybe employed to perform particular functions where it may be deemeddesirable to provide at least some degree of functionality in a mannerthat does not require the selection of menu items to operate. In onepossible variant, the controls 222, 225, 226 and 228 are operable as apower button, a mute button, volume rocker switch and a channelincrement/decrement rocker switch, respectively. FIG. 8 depicts avariant of the handheld form of the audio/visual device 100 depicted inFIG. 5 in which the touch sensor 220 is positioned so as to surround thenavigation buttons 270 a-d and the selection button 280, and in whichthis variant of the handheld form of the audio/visual device 100 mayfurther incorporate the controls 222, 225, 226 and 228.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a possible architecture of the controller500 in which the controller 500 incorporates an output interface 510, asensor interface 520, a storage 540, a processing device 550 and asource interface 590. The processing device 550 is coupled to each ofthe output interface 510, the sensor interface 520, the storage 540 andthe source interface 590 to at least coordinate the operation of each toperform at least the above-described functions of the controller 500.

The processing device 550 may be any of a variety of types of processingdevice based on any of a variety of technologies, including and notlimited to, a general purpose central processing unit (CPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), a microcontroller, or a sequencer. The storage540 may be based on any of a variety of data storage technologies,including and not limited to, any of a wide variety of types of volatileand nonvolatile solid-state memory, magnetic media storage, and/oroptical media storage. It should be noted that although the storage 540is depicted in a manner that is suggestive of it being a single storagedevice, the storage 540 may be made up of multiple storage devices, eachof which may be based on different technologies.

Each of the output interface 510, the sensor interface 520 and thesource interface 590 may employ any of a variety of technologies toenable the controller 500 to communicate with other devices and/or othercomponents of whatever audio/visual device into which the controller 500is incorporated. More specifically, where the controller 500 isincorporated into an audio/visual device that also incorporates one orboth of a display element (such as the display element 120) and at leastone acoustic driver (such as the acoustic drivers 130), the outputinterface 510 may be of a type able to directly drive a display elementwith signals causing the display of the racetrack menu 150 and thedisplay area 950 to display visual portions of audio/visual programs,and/or able to directly drive one or more acoustic drivers toacoustically output audio portions of audio/visual programs.Alternatively, where one or both of a display element and acousticdrivers are not incorporated into the same audio/visual device intowhich the controller 500 is incorporated, the output interface 510 maybe of a type employing cabling-based and/or a wireless signaling(perhaps signaling conforming to one of the previously listed industrystandards) to transmit a signal to another audio/visual device intowhich a display element and/or acoustic drivers are incorporated (e.g.,the audio/visual device 100).

Similarly, where the controller 500 is incorporated into an audio/visualdevice into which the touch sensor 220 is also incorporated, the sensorinterface 520 may be of a type able to directly receive electricalsignals emanating from the touch sensor 220. With such a more directcoupling, the sensor interface 520 may directly monitor atwo-dimensional array of touch-sensitive points of the touch-sensitivesurface 225 of the touch sensor 220 for indications of whichtouch-sensitive points are being touched by a tip of a user's digit, andthereby enable the processing device 550 to employ those indications todirectly determine where the touch-sensitive surface 225 is beingtouched. Thus, a determination of whether or not the tip of the digit istouching a portion of the racetrack surface 250 and/or the position 260by the processing device 550 may be enabled. However, where thecontroller 500 is incorporated into a device into which the touch sensor220 is not also incorporated (e.g., the controller 500 is incorporatedinto the audio/visual device 100 and the touch sensor is incorporatedinto the remote control 200), the sensor interface 520 may be of a typeable to receive cabling-based and/or wireless signaling transmitted bythat other device (e.g., infrared signals emitted by the remote control200). With such a more remote coupling, circuitry (not shown) that isco-located with the touch sensor 220 may perform the task of directlymonitoring a two-dimensional array of touch-sensitive points of thetouch-sensitive surface 225, and then transmit indications of whichtouch-sensitive points are being touched by the tip of a users digit tothe sensor interface 520.

Although it is possible that the audio/visual device into which thecontroller 500 is incorporated may not incorporate any sources (such asthe sources 901-904) from which the controller 500 receives audio/visualprograms, it is deemed more likely that the audio/visual device intowhich the controller 500 is incorporated will incorporate one or more ofsuch sources in addition to being capable of receiving audio/visualprograms from sources not incorporated into the same audio/visualdevice. By way of example, it is envisioned that the controller 500 maybe incorporated into an audio/visual device into which a radio frequencytuner and/or an Internet access device is also incorporated to enableaccess to audio/visual programs for selection and playing without theattachment of another audio/visual device, while also having thecapability of being coupled to another audio/visual device to receivestill other audio/visual programs. In other words, it is envisioned thatthe controller 500 may well be incorporated into an audio/visual devicethat is at least akin to a television, whether portable (e.g., asdepicted in FIG. 5) or stationary (e.g., as depicted in FIG. 1).Therefore, although the source interface 590 may have any of a number ofconfigurations to couple the controller 500 to any of a number ofpossible sources, it is envisioned that the source interface 590 will beconfigured to enable the controller 500 to be coupled to at least onesource that is also incorporated into the same audio/visual device intowhich the controller 500 is incorporated, and to also enable thecontroller 500 to be coupled to at least one source that is notincorporated into the same audio/visual device.

Thus, the source interface 590 incorporates one or more of an electricalinterface 595, an optical interface 596, a radio frequency transceiver598 and/or an infrared receiver 599. The electrical interface 595 (ifpresent) enables the source interface 590 to couple the controller 500to at least one source, whether incorporated into the same audio/visualdevice as the controller 500, or not, to receive electrical signals(e.g., Ethernet, S-Video, USB, HDMI, etc.) conveying an audio/visualprogram to the controller 500. The optical interface 596 (if present)enables the source interface 590 to couple the controller 500 to atleast one source to receive optical signals (e.g., Toslink) conveying anaudio/visual program to the controller 500. The radio frequencytransceiver 598 (if present) enables the source interface 590 towirelessly couple the controller 500 to at least one other audio/visualdevice functioning as a source to receive radio frequency signals (e.g.,Bluetooth, a variant of IEEE 802.11, ZigBee, etc.) conveying anaudio/visual program to the controller 500 from that other audio/visualdevice. The infrared receiver 599 (if present) enables the sourceinterface 590 to wirelessly couple the controller 500 to at least oneother audio/visual device functioning as a source to receive infraredsignals conveying an audio/visual program to the controller 500 fromthat other source. It should be noted that although the output interface510 and the sensor interface 520 are depicted as separate from thesource interface 590, it may be deemed advantageous, depending on thenature of the signaling supported, to combine one or both of the outputinterface 510 and the sensor interface 520 with the source interface590.

Stored within the storage 540 are one or more of a control routine 450,a protocols data 492, a commands data 493, an audio/visual data 495, arescaled audio/visual data 496, and menu data 498. Upon being executedby the processing device 550, a sequence of instructions of the controlroutine 450 causes the processing device 550 to coordinate themonitoring of the touch sensor 220 for user input, the output of theracetrack menu 150 to a display element (e.g., the display element 120),the selection of a source of an audio/visual program to be played, andone or both of the display of a visual portion of an audio/visualprogram on a display element on which the racetrack menu 150 is alsodisplayed and the acoustic output of an audio portion of theaudio/visual program via one or more acoustic drivers (e.g., theacoustic drivers 130).

Upon execution, the control routine 450 causes the processing device 550to operate the sensor interface 520 to await indications of a userplacing a tip of a digit in contact with a portion of the racetracksurface 250 defined on a surface of the touch sensor 220, moving thatdigit about the racetrack surface 250 and/or applying greater pressureat the position 260 on the racetrack surface 250 to make a selection.Upon receiving an indication of activity by the user involving theracetrack surface 250, the processing device 550 may be caused tooperate the output interface to display the racetrack menu 150 with oneor more of the menu items 155 positioned thereon and surrounding thedisplay area 950 via a display element, if the racetrack menu 150 is notalready being displayed. The processing device 550 is further caused todisplay and position at least the marker 160 on the racetrack menu 150in a manner that corresponds to the position 260 of the user's digit onthe racetrack surface 250. Further, in response to the passage of apredetermined period of time without receiving indications of activityby the user involving the racetrack surface 250, the processing device550 may be caused to operate the output interface 510 to ceasedisplaying the racetrack menu 150, and to display substantially littleelse on a display element than the display area 950.

Upon execution, the control routine 450 causes the processing device 550to operate the sensor interface 520 to await an indication of aselection of a menu item 155 that corresponds to selecting a source fromwhich the user may wish an audio/visual program to be provided forplaying, and may operate the source interface 590 to at least enablereceipt of an audio/visual program from that selected source. Where anaudio/visual program is received, the processing device 550 may befurther caused to buffer audio and/or visual portions of theaudio/visual program in the storage 540 as the audio/visual data 495. Inembodiments in which a visual portion of an audio/visual program isrescaled to be displayed in the display area 950 at a time when thedisplay area 950 is surrounded by the racetrack menu 150, the processingdevice 550 may be further caused to buffer the rescaled form of thevisual portion in the storage as the rescaled audio/visual program data496.

Upon execution, the control routine 450 causes the processing device 550to operate the sensor interface 520 to await an indication of aselection of a menu item 155 corresponding to the selection of a command(e.g., “play” or “record” commands, numerals or other symbols specifyinga radio frequency channel to tune, etc.) to be transmitted to anaudio/visual device serving as a source, and may operate the sourceinterface 590 to transmit a command to that audio/visual device (e.g.,one of sources 901-904) that corresponds to a menu item 155 that hasbeen selected. In transmitting that command, the processing device 550may be further caused to refer to the protocols data 492 for dataconcerning sequences of signals that must be transmitted by the sourceinterface 590 as part of a communications protocol in preparation fortransmitting the command, and/or the processing device 550 may befurther caused to refer to the commands data 493 for data concerning thesequence of signals that must be transmitted by the source interface 590as part of transmitting the command. As will be familiar to thoseskilled in the art, some of the earlier listed forms of coupling makeuse of various protocols to organize various aspects of commands and/ordata that are conveyed, including and not limited to, Ethernet,Bluetooth, IEEE-1394, USB, etc. In support of the processing device 550responding to the selection of various ones of the menu items 155, theprocessing device 550 is further caused to store data correlating atleast some of the various menu items with actions to be taken by theprocessing device 550 in response to their selection by the user in thestorage 540 as the menu data 498.

Amidst operating the source interface 590 to enable receipt of anaudio/visual program from a source selected by the user, the processingdevice 550 may be caused to operate the output interface 510 to alterthe quantity and/or type of menu items 155 that are displayed at variouspositions on the racetrack menu 150. In so doing, the processing device550 may be further caused to store information concerning the size,shape, color and other characteristics of the racetrack menu 150, atleast some of the graphical representations of the menu items 155,and/or at least one graphical representation of the marker 160 in thestorage 540 as part of the menu data 498.

FIGS. 10 a and 10 b, taken together, depict and contrast two variants ofthe touch sensor 220. Both variants are depicted in perspective asdistinct touch-sensitive devices that are typically mounted within arecess of a casing of a device, including either the casing 110 of anyvariant of the audio/visual device 100 or the casing 210 of any variantof the remote control 200. However, as those skilled in the art willreadily recognize, other touch-sensitive device technologies may yieldvariants of the touch-sensitive device 220 that are film-like overlaysthat may be positioned to overlie a portion of a casing or of acircuitboard of a device. The discussion that follows is centered moreon the shape and utilization of the touch-sensitive surface 225 of thetouch sensor 220, and not on the touch-sensitive technology employed.

FIG. 10 a depicts the variant of the touch sensor 220 having the ringshape that has been discussed above at length that permits othermanually-operable controls (e.g., the navigation buttons 270 a-d and theselection button 280) to be positioned in a manner in which they aresurrounded by the ring shape of the touch sensor 220. As has alreadybeen discussed, the ring shape of this variant of the touch sensor 220provides a form of the touch-sensitive surface 225 that is bounded bythe ring shape of the touch sensor 220, and this in turn defines thering shape of the racetrack surface 250 (where the racetrack surface 250is defined on the touch-sensitive surface 225 to encompass substantiallyall of the touch-sensitive surface 225). Once again, although thisvariant of the touch sensor 220 is depicted as having a rectangular ringshape having four sides, other embodiments are possible in which thetouch sensor 220 has a ring shape of a different geometry, such as acircular ring shape, an oval ring shape, a hexagonal ring shape, etc.

FIG. 10 b depicts an alternate variant of the touch sensor 220 having arectangular shape that provides a continuous form of the touch-sensitivesurface 225 that is bounded by this rectangular shape (i.e., there is no“hole” or formed through the touch-sensitive surface 225). Thisrectangular shape more easily enables more than the ring shape of theracetrack surface 250 to be defined on the touch-sensitive surface 225in a manner in which the racetrack surface 250 encompasses only aportion of the touch-sensitive surface 225 and leaves open thepossibility of one or more other surfaces that serve other functionsalso being defined on thereon. In this alternate variant, the ring shapeof the racetrack surface 250 may be defined by a processing deviceexecuting a sequence of instructions of a routine, such as theprocessing device 550 executing the control routine 450 in FIG. 9. Inother words, the location of the racetrack surface 250 may be defined bya processing device first being provided with indications of whichtouch-sensitive points of an array of touch-sensitive points making upthe touch-sensitive surface 225 are being touched by a tip of a usersdigit, and second treating some of those touch-sensitive points asbelonging to the racetrack surface 250 and others of thosetouch-sensitive points as belonging to other surfaces that are definedon the touch-sensitive surface 225 (and which serve other functions).

Alternatively and/or additionally, one or more ridges 227 and/or grooves(not shown) may be formed in the touch-sensitive surface 225 to at leastprovide a tactile guide as to where the racetrack surface 250 is definedon the touch-sensitive surface 225. Such ridges 227 may be formedintegrally with the touch-sensitive surface 225, may be formed as partof a casing on which the touch sensor 220 is disposed, or may be adheredto the touch-sensitive surface 225. Further, such ridges 227 and/orgrooves (not shown) may coincide with locations on the touch-sensitivesurface 225 at which the touch sensor 220 is incapable of detecting thetouch of a tip of a digit (i.e., the touch-sensitive surface 225 may bemade up of multiple separate touch-sensitive portions, of which one is aportion having a ring shape where the racetrack surface 250 is defined).

More specifically, and as depicted in dotted lines in FIG. 10 b, theracetrack surface 250 is defined on the touch-sensitive surface 225 soas to be positioned about the periphery of the touch-sensitive surface225 such that the ring shape of the racetrack surface 250 surrounds theremainder of the touch-sensitive surface 225. As also depicted, at leasta portion of the touch-sensitive surface 225 that is surrounded by theracetrack surface 250 may be employed to provide the equivalent functionof other manually-operable controls, such as the navigation buttons 270a-d and the selection button 280. In other words, the navigation buttons270 a-d and the selection button 280 may be implemented as navigationsurfaces and a selection surface, respectively, defined on thetouch-sensitive surface of the touch sensor 220 (perhaps by a processingdevice executing a sequence of instructions), along with the racetracksurface 250.

It should be noted that although both of the variants of the touchsensor 220 have been depicted in FIGS. 10 a and 10 b as havingrectangular shapes with right angle corners, either variant mayalternatively have rounded corners. Indeed, where such a variant of thetouch sensor 220 has one or more of the ridges 227 and/or grooves (notshown), such ones of the ridges 227 and/or grooves may also have roundedcorners, despite being depicted as having right angle corners in FIGS.10 a and 10 b.

FIGS. 11 a and 11 b, taken together, depict two variants of the userinterface 1000 in which more than one display area is defined within theportion of the display element 120 that is surrounded by the racetrackmenu 150. These variants enable more than one visual portion of one ormore selected audio/visual programs to be played on the display element120 in a manner that enables a user to view them simultaneously. Alsodepicted is the manner in which various ones of the menu items 155associated within only one of the display areas may be positioned alongthe racetrack menu 150 to provide a visual indication of theirassociation with that one of the display areas.

More specifically, FIG. 11 a depicts a configuration that is commonlyreferred to as “picture-in-picture” in which a display area 970 havingsmaller dimensions than the display area 950 is positioned within andoverlies a portion of the display area 950. As also depicted, ones ofthe menu items 155 that are associated with the visual portion displayedin the display area 970 are positioned along portions of the racetrackmenu 150 that are located closer to the display area 970 (specifically,portions of the sides 150 b and 150 d) to provide a visual indication tothe user of that one association. Further, ones of the menu items 155that are associated with the visual portion displayed in the displayarea 950 are positioned along portions of the racetrack menu 150 thatare further from the display area 970 (specifically, the sides 150 a and150 c) to provide a visual indication to the user of that otherassociation. As suggested in the depiction of FIG. 11 a, the ones of themenu items 155 that are associated with the display area 950 correspondto commands to play or to stop playing an audio/visual program,selection of an input, and radio frequency channel tuning. The ones ofthe menu items 155 that are associated with the display area 970correspond to commands to play or to stop playing an audio/visualprogram, and selection of an input.

Also more specifically, FIG. 11 b depicts a configuration that iscommonly referred to as “picture-by-picture” in which the display areas950 and 970 are positioned adjacent each other (as opposed to oneoverlapping the other) within the portion of the display elementsurrounded by the racetrack menu 150. Again as depicted, ones of themenu items 155 that are associated with the visual portion displayed inthe display area 950 are positioned along portions of the racetrack menu150 that are located closer to the display area 950 (specifically, theside 150 c and portions of the sides 150 a and 150 b) to provide avisual indication to the user of that one association. Further, ones ofthe menu items 155 that are associated with the visual portion displayedin the display area 970 are positioned along portions of the racetrackmenu 150 that are located closer to the display area 970 (specifically,the side 150 d and portions of the sides 150 a and 150 b) to provide avisual indication to the user of that other association. As suggested inthe depiction of FIG. 11 b, each of the display areas 950 and 970 areassociated with separate ones of the menu items 155 that correspond tocommands to play or to stop playing an audio/visual program, selectionof an input, and radio frequency channel tuning.

Although FIGS. 11 a and 11 b depict embodiments having only two displayareas (i.e., the display areas 950 and 970) within the portion of thedisplay element 120 surrounded by the racetrack menu 150, those skilledin the art will readily recognize that other embodiments incorporatingmore than two such display areas are possible, and that in suchembodiments, each of the menu items 155 may be positioned along theracetrack menu 150 in a manner providing a visual indication of itsassociation with one of those display areas. Indeed, it is envisionedthat variants of the user interface 1000 are possible having 2-by-2 orlarger arrays of display areas to accommodate the simultaneous displayof multiple visual portions, possibly in security applications.

Although FIGS. 11 a and 11 b depict separate sets of the menu items 155corresponding to commands to play and to stop playing an audio/visualprogram that are separately associated with each of the display areas150 and 170, and although this suggests that the visual portions playedin each of the display areas 150 and 170 must be from differentaudio/visual programs, it should be noted that the simultaneouslydisplayed visual portions in the display areas 150 and 170 may be of thesame audio/visual program. As those skilled in the art will readilyrecognize, an audio/visual program may have more than one visualportion. An example of this may be an audio/visual program includingvideo of an event taken from more than one angle, such as anaudio/visual program of a sports event where an athlete is shown inaction from more than one camera angle. In such instances, there may beonly one set of the menu items 155 corresponding to commands to play,fast-forward, rewind, pause and/or to stop playing the singleaudio/visual program, instead of the separate sets of menu itemsdepicted FIGS. 11 a and 11 b.

With the simultaneous display of multiple visual portions, there may bemultiple audio portions that each correspond to a different one of thevisual portions. While viewing multiple visual portions simultaneouslymay be relatively easy for a user insofar as the user is able to chooseany visual program to watch with their eyes, listening to multiple audioportions simultaneously may easily become overwhelming. To address this,some embodiments may select one of the audio portions to be acousticallyoutput to the user based on the position 260 of a tip of a digit alongthe racetrack surface 250 (referring back to FIG. 2). Where the position260 at which the user places a tip of a digit on the racetrack surface250 corresponds to a portion of the racetrack menu 150 that is closer tothe display area 950, then an audio portion of the audio/visual programof the visual portion being displayed in the display area 950 isacoustically output to the user. If the user then moves that tip of adigit along the racetrack surface 250 such that the position 260 ismoved to a portion of the racetrack surface 250 that corresponds to aportion of the racetrack menu 150 that is closer to the display area970, then an audio portion of the audio/visual program of the visualportion being displayed in the display area 970 is acoustically outputto the user. As the selection of audio portion that is acousticallyoutput to the user changes as the user moves the tip of a digit aboutthe racetrack surface 250, the corresponding position of the marker 160along the racetrack menu 150 may serve as a visual indication to theuser of which visual portion the current selection of audio portioncorresponds to.

FIG. 12 depicts an alternate variant of the user interface 1000 in whichthe combined display of the racetrack menu 150 and the display area 950surrounded by the racetrack menu 150 does not fill substantially all ofthe display element 120. Such an embodiment may be implemented on a morecomplex variant of the audio/visual device 100 capable of simultaneouslyperforming numerous functions, some of which are entirely unrelated toselection and playing of an audio/visual program. As depicted, thisleaves a display area 920 that is outside the racetrack menu 150 andthat is overlain by the combination of the racetrack menu 150 and thedisplay area 950 available for such unrelated functions. Such a morecomplex variant of the audio/visual device 100 may be a general purposecomputer system, perhaps one employed as a “media center system” or“whole house entertainment system.” In such an embodiment, thecombination of the racetrack menu 150 and the display area 950 may bedisplayed in a window defined by an operating system having a windowinggraphical user interface where the window occupies substantially lessthan all of the display element 120.

As also depicted in FIG. 12, in such an embodiment, the user may selectand control the playing of an audio/visual program through the use of avariant of the touch sensor 220 having a touch-sensitive surface 225that has a continuous rectangular shape (such as the variant of thetouch sensor 220 of FIG. 10 b), as opposed to having a ring shape (suchas the variant of the touch sensor 220 of FIG. 10 a). The racetracksurface 250 is defined on the touch-sensitive surface 225 in a mannerthat occupies the periphery of the touch-sensitive surface 225 and thatsurrounds a remaining portion of the touch-sensitive surface 225 thatenables conventional operation of other functions of the audio/visualdevice 100 that may be unrelated to the selection and playing of anaudio/visual program. In essence, this remaining portion of thetouch-sensitive surface 225 may be employed in a conventional mannerthat will be familiar to those skilled in the art of graphical userinterfaces in which a user moves about a graphical cursor using a tip ofa digit placed on this remaining portion. Thus, the user may choose toengage in selecting audio/visual programs and controlling the playing ofthose audio/visual programs through the racetrack surface 250, and maychoose to engage in performing other tasks unrelated to the selectionand playing of audio/visual programs through the remaining portion ofthe touch-sensitive surface 225.

To provide tactile guidance to the user as to the location of theracetrack surface 250, one or more ridges 227 and/or grooves (not shown)may be formed in the touch-sensitive surface 225. In this way, the usermay be aided in unerringly placing a tip of a digit on whichever one ofthe racetrack surface 250 or the remaining portion of thetouch-sensitive surface 225 that they wish to place that tip upon,without errantly placing that tip on both, and without having to glanceat the touch-sensitive surface 225 of the touch sensor 220.

Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims andother claims to which the applicant may be entitled.

1. An apparatus capable of causing a visual portion of an audio/visualprogram received from one of a plurality of sources to be displayed on adisplay element, the apparatus comprising: a remote control comprising:a casing; and a first manually-operable control disposed on the casingand comprising a touch-sensitive surface, wherein the firstmanually-operable control is associated with a first menu having a firstplurality of menu items, and wherein the first manually-operable controlis operable to enable selection of one menu item of the first pluralityof menu items; a processing device able to receive indications from theremote control of the first manually-operable control being operated,and able to cause the visual portion to be displayed on the displayelement; and a storage accessible to the processing device and storing asequence of instructions that when executed by the processing device,causes the processing device to: cause the first menu to be displayed onthe display element in response to contact with the touch-sensitivesurface being detected; cause a first marker of the first menucorresponding to a current position of the contact with thetouch-sensitive surface to be displayed and moved about the first menuand among menu items of the first plurality of menu items in a mannerindicating the current position in response to movement of the currentposition of the contact with the touch-sensitive surface about thetouch-sensitive surface; and cause a selection of the one menu item ofthe first plurality of menu items in response to the marker being movedtowards the one menu item and to operation of the firstmanually-operable control to select the one menu item with the currentposition of the contact with the touch-sensitive surface beingmaintained at a position on the touch-sensitive surface that correspondsto a position of the one menu item on the first menu.
 2. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the processing device is further caused, inexecuting the sequence of instructions, to: cause the visual portion ofthe audio/visual program to be displayed on the display element andcause the first menu to cease to be displayed on the display element inresponse to a predetermined period of time elapsing since contact withthe touch-sensitive surface was last detected; and cause the first menuto be displayed on the display element in response to contact with thetouch-sensitive surface being detected following causing the first menuto cease to be displayed on the display element in response to thepredetermined period of time elapsing since contact with thetouch-sensitive surface was last detected.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the processing device is further caused, in executing thesequence of instructions, to: cause the visual portion of theaudio/visual program to be displayed within a first portion of thedisplay element; and cause the first menu to be displayed within asecond portion of the display element.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3,wherein the second portion extends at least partially about a peripheryof the display element and at least partially about the periphery of thefirst portion.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the second portionextends about a periphery of the display element and about the peripheryof the first portion.
 6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the secondportion at least partially overlies the first portion.
 7. The apparatusof claim 1, further comprising a second manually-operable controldisposed on the casing, wherein the second manually-operable isassociated with a second menu having a second plurality of menu items,and wherein the second manually-operable control is operable to enableselection of one menu item of the second plurality of menu items.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein the second manually-operable controlcomprises a plurality of navigation controls and a selection control. 9.The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first manually-operable controlextends about a periphery of the second manually-operable control. 10.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first marker is caused to bedisplayed in a manner selected from a group consisting of: a markerhaving a rectangular shape surrounding a menu item, a highlighting of amenu item in which a color is altered, a highlighting of a menu item inwhich a brightness is altered, and a highlighting of a menu item inwhich the menu item is displayed as enlarged.
 11. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the touch-sensitive surface is able to detect an increase inpressure applied at the current position in being operable to enableselection.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the firstmanually-operable control is depressible in a direction towards thecasing in response to an increase in pressure applied at the currentposition in being operable to enable selection.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the first plurality of menu items comprises arectangular shape.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising acapacitive ring disposed on the casing and extending about the firstmanually-operable control, wherein detection of a digit of a user beingin close proximity to the first manually-operable control comprisesdetection of a change in capacitance associated with the conductive ringbeing induced by the digit of the user coming into close proximity tothe conductive ring.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein theprocessing device is further caused, in executing the sequence ofinstructions, to cause electric power to be provided to enable operationof the first manually-operable control in response to the digit of theuser being detected in close proximity to the first manually-operablecontrol.
 16. An apparatus capable of causing a visual portion of anaudio/visual program received from one of a plurality of sources to bedisplayed on a display element, the apparatus comprising: a remotecontrol comprising: a casing; and a first manually-operable controldisposed on the casing and comprising a touch-sensitive surface, whereinthe first manually-operable control is associated with a first menuhaving a first plurality of menu items, and wherein the firstmanually-operable control is operable to enable selection of one menuitem of the first plurality of menu items; a processing device able toreceive indications from the remote control of the firstmanually-operable control being operated, and able to cause the visualportion to be displayed on the display element; and a storage accessibleto the processing device and storing a sequence of instructions thatwhen executed by the processing device, causes the processing device to:cause the first menu to be displayed on the display element in responseto a digit of a user being detected in close proximity to thetouch-sensitive surface; cause a first marker of the first menucorresponding to a current position of contact of the digit of the userwith the touch-sensitive surface to be displayed and moved about thefirst menu and among menu items of the first plurality of menu items ina manner indicating the current position in response to movement of thecurrent position of the contact of the digit with the touch-sensitivesurface about the touch-sensitive surface; and cause a selection of theone menu item of the first plurality of menu items in response to themarker being moved towards the one menu item and to operation of thefirst manually-operable control to select the one menu item with thecurrent position of the contact of the digit with the touch-sensitivesurface being maintained at a position on the touch-sensitive surfacethat corresponds to a position of the one menu item on the first menu.17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing device is furthercaused, in executing the sequence of instructions, to: cause the visualportion of the audio/visual program to be displayed on the displayelement and cause the first menu to cease to be displayed on the displayelement in response to a predetermined period of time elapsing since anydigit of any user was last detected in close proximity to thetouch-sensitive surface; and cause the first menu to be displayed on thedisplay element in response to a digit of a user being detected in closeproximity to the touch-sensitive surface following causing the firstmenu to cease to be displayed on the display element in response to thepredetermined period of time elapsing since any digit of any user waslast detected in close proximity to the touch-sensitive surface.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing device is further caused,in executing the sequence of instructions, to: cause the visual portionof the audio/visual program to be displayed within a first portion ofthe display element; and cause the first menu to be displayed within asecond portion of the display element.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18,wherein the second portion extends at least partially about a peripheryof the display element and at least partially about the periphery of thefirst portion.
 20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the second portionat least partially overlies the first portion.
 21. The apparatus ofclaim 16, wherein the first marker is caused to be displayed in a mannerselected from a group consisting of: a marker having a rectangular shapesurrounding a menu item, a highlighting of a menu item in which a coloris altered, a highlighting of a menu item in which a brightness isaltered, and a highlighting of a menu item in which the menu item isdisplayed as enlarged.
 22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein thetouch-sensitive surface is able to detect an increase in pressureapplied at the current position in being operable to enable selection.23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the manually-operable control isdepressible in a direction towards the casing in response to an increasein pressure applied at the current position in being operable to enableselection.
 24. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising acapacitive ring disposed on the casing and extending about the firstmanually-operable control, wherein detection of the digit of the userbeing in close proximity to the first manually-operable controlcomprises detection of a change in capacitance associated with theconductive ring being induced by the digit of the user coming into closeproximity to the conductive ring.
 25. The apparatus of claim 24, whereinthe processing device is further caused, in executing the sequence ofinstructions, to cause electric power to be provided to enable operationof the first manually-operable control in response to the digit of theuser being detected in close proximity to the first manually-operablecontrol.
 26. An apparatus comprising: a data processor; a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions executable by the dataprocessor to: cause a visual representation of an arrangement ofelements associated with a set of content sources to be displayed on avisual interface of a multimedia player responsive to processing of afirst signal received from a user interface unit that is remotelycoupled to the apparatus, the first signal being representative of acontact with the user interface unit, and the visual representation ofthe arrangement of elements including a visual representation of a firstelement associated with a first content source of the set of contentsources; cause a visual representation of an element selector to bemoved about the visual representation of the arrangement of elements toprovide visual feedback responsive to processing of a second signalreceived from the user interface unit, the second signal beingrepresentative of a contact motion that is sensed relative to absolutelocations on the touch-sensitive surface; and cause a visual portion ofan audio/video program provided by the first content source to bedisplayed on the visual interface of the multimedia player responsive toprocessing of a third signal received from the user interface unit, thethird signal being representative of a change in contact pressure on thetouch-sensitive surface.
 27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein thevisual representation of the arrangement of elements is displayed withina first region of visual interface; the visual portion of theaudio/video program is displayed within a second region of the visualinterface, and the first region surrounds the second region.
 28. Theapparatus of claim 27, wherein the visual representation of thearrangement of visual elements comprises a racetrack menu.
 29. Theapparatus of claim 27, wherein the first region at least partiallyoverlaps the second region.
 30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein theinstructions are further executable by the data processor to cause asecond element associated with the first content source of the set ofcontent sources to be displayed on the visual interface responsive tothe processing of the third signal received from the user interfaceunit.